The national government’s debt settlements reached ₱1.54 trillion in the first eight months of the year, a slight decline from ₱1.55 trillion a year ago, even though August saw an almost 400 percent jump in required payments.

Data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed that the 0.7 percent drop in year-to-date debt payments could be attributed to the principal payments or amortization made by the Marcos administration, which decreased by eight percent to ₱956.7 billion from ₱1.04 trillion a year earlier.

Amortization accounted for 62.1 percent of the total payments.

In particular, the Philippine government reduced its domestic amortization by 12.6 percent to ₱768.5 billion as of end-August from ₱879.7 billion in the previous year. In contrast, amortization to foreign lenders climbed 16.8 percent to ₱188.2 billion from ₱161.1 billion during the eight-month period.

Meanwhile, the country’s interest payments, which accounted for 37.9 percent of the total, increased by 14.7 percent to ₱584.1 billion from ₱509.4 billion.

Payments to domestic lenders increased by 18.3 percent to ₱429.1 billion from ₱362.7 billion.

Interest payments on government securities increased in general, with short-dated treasury bills (T-bills) rising to ₱30.4 billion from ₱22.4 billion a year ago, fixed-rate treasury bonds (T-bonds) to ₱292.1 billion from ₱236.2 billion, and retail treasury bonds (RTB) to ₱99.7 billion from ₱95.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the government’s other obligations received lower interest payments as of end-August at ₱6.9 from ₱9 billion a year earlier.

Interest payments to the government’s obligations from external sources also inched up by 5.7 percent to ₱155 billion from ₱146.7 billion.

In August alone, total payments surged nearly fourfold year-on-year to ₱664.7 billion from ₱186.2 billion in August last year.

Amortization during the month surged to ₱601.6 billion, 4.5 times higher than the ₱133.4 billion the government settled in August last year. The government also increased its interest payments by 19.5 percent to ₱63.1 billion from ₱52.8 billion a year earlier.

Due to settlement of over half a trillion pesos in local bonds and stronger peso, the national government has reversed its record high outstanding debt of ₱17.56 trillion in July to ₱17.47 trillion in August.

Both Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto and National Treasurer Sharon P. Almanza expressed confidence in still hitting the end-2025 debt target of ₱17.36 trillion.